Welcome to the Jungle

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"Of course," Kairon started to say. "We've only really just got our crew settled. You would probably want some of the ones we know and trust to move onto another ship - if you got one - to give you some confidence. Maybe let Tannis get his second in engineering up to speed and then think about it. Doesn't mean we can't go looking at ships some time and get a feel for what we'd be after." He set his fork down on the table and waited for her to meet his gaze.

Kairon wasn't always the best communicator, but they'd lived together for months now and he couldn't remain totally oblivious - even when she was trying to skirt around the topic.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"I don't know what I want, actually. I know that there is the expected projection that if you can expand your business, you should. But I still don't know if it is something I want to do. Moving to the Warden has been interesting. We've been on it a year now."

It was strange to her. She had this notion from somewhere that if she was going to move into a bigger ship, she had an obligation to make sure she was profitable and growing, not just for her but for the people who trusted her with their livelihoods.

"Is the crew gonna be content running them as much as I do when I can ease them up, and keep their pay the same? Would they want the relief or would they see it as competition? If I can make a better profit with another ship, am I beholden to try?"

She shook her head.

"I don't even know where these thoughts are coming from."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Kairon was no businessman. He was good at building solid business relationships though and he knew how to trade fairly, had an eye for price and could plot profitable routes. He made a soft, throaty noise that made it clear he was considering this.

"Some businesses can expand too quick, others stagnate and lose out. I reckon we've got the trade, but I don't think we have the people. Gotta build another crew we trust. Trust em to look after your asset, not piss off our contacts and to make new ones and find more work.

"Maybe we run the Warden at slightly above capacity crew for a short while whilst we look at some ships. Get a good look at some more people before we send them off. Jarrick has a good mate on the Quin, but not sure he'd be willing to part. If he's good enough to step up though..."

 

[Malia Afredane]

"I'm not gonna poach off Jarrick's crew. That would be a crappy thing to do."

She considered the different ideas and set them aside for the time being. Maybe she just needed more time. The last year on the Warden had been anything but ordinary and she needed to see a couple years worth of numbers before she could really get a feel for what the standards were and what were anomalies. She laid her fork on her bare plate, and pushed it to the side.

"We can just carry on for now. I just wonder if I'm doing the right thing. It's not always as easy as reading a map. There's no map for this. Just a matter of where do I want to be and how do I get there."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"But imagine the look on his face..." Kairon trailed off, a distant expression of pleasure as he looked off into the distance. He shook away the feigned look and turned to regard her with a rather more serious expression.

"We've done okay at new things together you know," he said, looking just a touch embarrassed. "I think you'll do fine, you're doing great now. I'm always here for you, you know.

"Everyone likes to overlay a plan on top of what happened in their life," he said, his hands pretending to smooth something out on the table. "Just makes em feel better. Nothing goes to plan, people call them as they see them. You make good calls. Most of the time," he added with a smile clearly indicating himself.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"Not shorting you on a deal because I thought you had a nice smile was one of my better calls, I think. Trusting Rusty's assessment of your relationship with Jarrick, not so much."

She chuckled, reaching over to take his hand, a soft smile on her face.

"I'm afraid you're stuck with me now, Mr. Rees. Well, for as long as you'll have me at least. Gonna have to download more horrible Serennese soap operas to keep you hooked and under my spell."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Kairon chuckled. "I dunno, I always thought he had nice arms," he said. "Another one? I don't think I can stand any more rediculous drama." Two quite clear lies in a row.

"But seriously, you can't show me cancelled shows that end on a cliffhanger. It's been going round and round me head all this week. We'll never know what happened to..."

A waiter was passing their table. As he crossed the line of sight between the pair and the window he chest lit up. A bright flame gushed out and he didn't even had the time to scream before he went down. Reflexes that had kept Kairon alive through years of boarding actions kicked in and he hit the deck. That shot had been aimed at him.

Pistol already in hand, he risked a look. Another red bolt streaked through the air and hit the bar behind them.

"Kark, I can't see the shooter. Must be some distance away!" And that wall probably wasn't blaster proof either. He kept his head down and looked around. The front door was on the shooter's side of the building. Was there a back way?

 

[Malia Afredane]

For once Mal was completely taken by surprise, the second shot just missing her head as it passed. She rolled under the table, her blaster out now as she tried to keep out of line of sight. However, not knowing where the shooting was coming from wasn't helping. A cursory glance around the cafe wasn't turning up anything immediate suspects for the downed waiter and shots fired but she couldn't see much from where she was. Panic was spreading as people screamed and fled the building or hunkered down behind tables and the bar.

"Where is this coming from?"

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"That window!" he shouted, waving his pistol towards the melted panes of glass. The weapon was useless in his hand, without a target, but its weight was reassuring.

"He's a distance away. Feth!" he called. "This way!" he called reaching out towards him as he hunkered down as close to the ground as he could. He would start to slide along the ground in a direction he hoped would keep then out of the line of sight. There must be a back way through the kitchen.

 

[Malia Afredane]

She crawled along the floor as quickly as she could, taking a moment behind the bar to peer around and see if she could catch a laser scope or something that would give the shooter's location but there was nothing immediately sticking out. She pulled her head back in and crawled in through the kitchen door, coming up to her knees and then feet as they were around the corner. She hugged the wall and peered around the room, food burning on the flat top where the cooks ran from the hail of blaster fire.

"Do you think they have someone covering the rear?"

If she was in charge of an ambush, she would.

"Where's the damn security people? This outpost ain't that big and why can't we go anywhere without dread descending upon us?"

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"I swear, next time we're alone, we find the biggest emptoest void in space, we park up and we just get the hot and sweaty without the impending doom and inevitable hospital time," he called tersely as he got back to his feet.

Someone had beaten them to their idea. Several kitchen staff were fleeing through the back door and Kairon took some solace at the lack of gunshots. He risked a look through the door.

"Can't see anything. We might be able to make the treeline and circle around through the jungle back to the ship," he suggested.

The coast was clear, but unbeknownst to him the lone rodian shooter had dispatched a pair of armed probe droids when his first shot had missed his target. That shouldn't have happened. Simple chance had prevented him from picking up the Kanjiklub reward on Rees with one shot.

 

[Malia Afredane]

A void in space was sounding just about perfect at the moment while the blaster fire seemed to stop. Mal eased out the back into an area with a waste bin and a few colorful fowl who were panicked by the sudden emergence of people running through their feed ground. She checked the opening to the trees and took off running as quickly as she could but the fizz of blaster shots on the foliage behind her narrowed down the list of possible targets. Considering the shot in the cafe, Kairon was into something.

The underbrush was dense and the probe droids that had fired at her making for the trees couldn't float through the tangle of limbs and leaves easily not that it was any easier for her to push the brightly colored leaves and branches from her path. She was going in a direction she thought was right to lead her back to where Gracie was parked. She was having a hard time focusing on what would come after that as she was consumed with a new thought.

Whoever was shooting didn't want Kairon alive. She absolutely was not ready to have such an abrupt end come to the relationship of the only man she'd loved in her adult life. A cold determination washed over her. The same one that gripped her when people like Lars or that lowlife who tried to take Gracie crossed her. No. This wasn't going down like this.

She paused with her back to a rather large looking tree with lavender rounded leaves, and a massive trunk. She checked her blaster, her brows knitted together. She had about half a cannister of gas, maybe 25 shots. Not helpful in this dense cluster of forest, but she had something better for it on the ship. If she could get there.

Given a quiet moment, as they were pressed against the tree hiding from the shooter, she whispered breathily at him, her eyebrow raised in concern.

"Any idea who you pissed off?"

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

"Pissed off? A few. Enough to actually send someone out to this barely habited jungle and try and gun me down? I'm not sure," he said, racking his brain. He flashed her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but the lines set above his brow gave away the depth of his concern. He sidled around the thick trunk of the tree enough to get a look back at the settlement. No sign of the shooter.

“When Rovio took over Ezro’s business he had some Kanjiklub try and take my ship from me a while back. Settled with Rovio when his blood was done after burying Ezro for his debts. He realised keeping Ezro’s old contacts for work was more useful than stripping assets. Tylo from Denon was quite pissy at me recently. Either some half-baked bounty hunter is hoping to make a name for himself for a tiny contract or I’ve missed something.”

Kairon moved between two trees, the foliage thick enough to cover the move. Still no sign of pursuit.

“Shot was definitely aimed at me though, so sorry for whatever I did! Would really be nice to have a Rusty or a Jarrick around right now.” The pair could handle themselves just fine, but there was a difference between someone who was handy with a blaster and a professional killer. He was starting to feel the touch of that ice cold anger deep in his gut. Every damn time they got a few minutes alone something got in the way. His mind was taken back to that bar on Zeltron and pressing down with his hand on the deep cut through her shoulder. His stomach lurched, the grip on his blaster tightened.

Something caught his eye. A pair of silver objects lifting up above the abodes of the settlement. He didn’t know if that was security or whoever was after him, but he didn’t feel like finding out.

“Deeper into the jungle then around to the ship?”

 

[Malia Afredane]

"Like we have a choice?"

Having Rusty here would help a little. Rusty was slightly less vulnerable to blaster fire than their squishy organic forms, but he wasn't brazenly stupid about charging a hidden sniper.

Keeping low, she pulled away from the tree and ducked down, making for the little trails between the plants where some of the smaller animals navigated through the leaves. She tried not to disturb the branches, winding through them carefully so she would not draw attention to the woods. As they got close to the ship, she was relieved to see that it was mostly unguarded.

She eased from the brush when the glint of light on moving metal caught her eye.

Probe droids armed with blasters floated to where the ramp of Gracie sat open. Taking them out would draw the sniper's attention, provided he could see them. While they were moving it was possible the shooter adjusted his position as well, a deadly game of hide and seek afoot.

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Kairon whispered some very choice words as he say the probe droids float into the ship. "I know that model. Multi-spectral sensors, probably tracked us into the foliage a short distance worked out were we were headed and cut us off. Armed too," he added, seeing the weapons extended from their underbellies.

Very cautiously, he moved behind the thick trunk of another tree. His line of thinking was similar to hers. "The shooter's probably in touch with them so I bet he's got eyes on the open ground around the ship. If we move he guns us down. If we wait he takes over guard duty on the ship and sends the droids in after us."

He cast his eyes over Mal. Why did this have to keep happening? Everything had been going so well between them. Two years ago he could never have imagined being in this position.

Not about to give it all away for some jumped up kid with a rifle, he told himself.

"Wait them out and set a trap deeper in the jungle, or swing around the settlement and find a house to hide in?" he asked. Either way they needed to head deeper into the forest again to mask any signatures those probes could pick up.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"We don't know the layout of the forest, we don't know that we can lure them into a trap deeper in. We run the risk of getting lost ourselves."

She looked at the droids and his quip about having a Rusty or a Jarrick made her pause.

"I think I have a solution but I don't think you're gonna like it." She may not have Rusty but she wasn't completely without help. It was just that she wasn't sure what to expect if she activated it. She slipped a comlink out of her pocket and keyed in a code before she peered around the edge of the tree and watched. It took a few moments before something happened but soon the metallic clank of footfalls and a loud racket echoed through the corridors of Gracie and down the ramp. The hovering droids turned to intercept the intruder but they were met with a hail of slugs that rendered them inert.

The copper colored droid dropped the footlocker it had been dragging and took up a defensive stance.

"That's our cue. Come on, Skippy will cover us."

She kept low but headed out of the trees, keeping the copper droid Skippy between her and the settlement.

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Kairon didn't wait. What Malia might notice was that he kept his distance from her. Just enough that he doubted any marksman worth his salt could miss him and kit her instead. He tried to keep his head down and follow a jagged path. In the end that was what saved him. A puff of black smoke from the ground was the first indication he'd been shot at. The path of the bright red bolt was seared onto his retinas and identified the nearby window he'd shot from.

He wildly fired two shots back towards that building. They struck the walls either side of the window, but at least they seemed to give the shooter pause. "Every...where I go...getting shot at. Is my face just that disagreeable!?" he called as he ran. Not far now. As long as there was only one of them they might just make it.

 

[Malia Afredane]

As the shots came from the window, Skippy acquired the target and returned fire, laying down cover for Mal and Kairon to get to the footlocker next to him. Mal flung the case open and grabbed an armored vest and helmet, tossing them at Kairon while she stayed crouched behind the open lid. The footlocker was plated and blasters wouldn't do anything to it, but it was enough of shield that Mal could keep down behind it while the looming figure of Skippy sent off a hail of slugs at the small structure, the projectiles ripping through the walls and windows.

Mal dug another vest out and threw it on over her head before she pulled a couple A280 rifles from the trunk. Hitting the switch, she glanced up.

"Skippy's got about 20 seconds before he reloads. Roll to the left and keep the helmet on. You go in the front, I'll take the back. Shoot first. GO!"

Then she was gone, rolling to the right as the copper assassin droid continued to blow through the last of his ammo, peppering the side of the house with rounds. There was no fire coming at her as she rounded the corner of the house, to a little patio where there was a door coming off what looked like a kitchen. Her comlink returned back in her hand as she keyed in the code to put Skippy on ceasefire before she readied herself for the confrontation. She kicked in the door, her rifle muzzle sweeping side to side as she cleared the kitchen.

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

Wide open spaces. Kairon didn't like wide open spaces. He knew fighting well enough, but was accustomed to narrow corridors and small spaces. The A280 was a solid rifle, built to last through the worst of conditions with relatively light maintenance. The first few weeks of their time on the Warden had been a little tricky. Kairon had become used to the notion of being in charge. They were both stubborn and he'd lost his temper a couple of times.

That seemed like such a long time ago now.

Right now she led and he followed. And tried not to die. He was really quite focussed on the whole not dying thing. Seeing movement in another window he went to shoulder his rifle, but Skippy had already altered his aim and let off a series of three round bursts to keep their opponent pinned. This was probably the very last thing they'd expected.

Skippy stopped shooting. Kairon fired as he advanced the last few metres cautiously. He barely paused to slap the door control before sliding into the building.

He saw a flash of green vanish up a ladder. "Roof!" he called to Mal. "He's gone up on the roof!"

 

[Malia Afredane]

Mal turned and immediately headed outside as her eyes swept up to the roof and she walked around the edge of the house making sure that there was no way the sniper could jump to a neighboring one. Her rifle muzzle was up and so far, she had not gotten a glimpse of the shooter but he could be waiting to fire down the ladder. They had him cornered. For the most part.

Easing the com out, she keyed in a new code and the dorsal ion cannons on Gracie swung around to acquire the sniper. The ion cannon locked on and confirmed target lock with an audible beep from her coms.

"Listen up! You run and my ship is gonna open fire. You fire again and you'll be fired upon. Throw your weapons off the roof and come down or I open fire."

The ion cannon on Gracie was small compared to the weapons on other ships. However compared to a personal blaster, it was much more convincing in an argument. Skippy had reloaded his slugthrower automatic and had one side of the roof covered while she stood at the corner of the house so she could see two sides, leaving Kairon to cover the other.

Hopefully, the shooter wasn't stupid but having fired on her already, her assumptions of his intelligence didn't go far.

[member="Kairon Rees"]